


Arnold Talks to Ms. Frizzle’s Current Class

by ReleasingmyInsanity



Category: Magic School Bus
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Platonically Living Together, Teaching, True Companions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:47:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25870816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReleasingmyInsanity/pseuds/ReleasingmyInsanity
Summary: Ms. Frizzle’s class from the show share a house and do science. Sometimes they talk to Ms. Frizzle’s current class about their specialties. And today it’s Arnold’s turn.
Kudos: 12





	Arnold Talks to Ms. Frizzle’s Current Class

Arnold walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. “Good morning,” he said, reaching for the coffee pot.

“Morning, Arnold,” came the voices of several of his friends.

“Hey Arnold,” Tim asked, “What’s with the suit?”

“I bet I know,” Wanda interrupted before Arnold could say anything. “It’s your turn to talk to Ms. Frizzle’s students isn’t it?”

Arnold nodded. “Yep.”

“So why the suit?” Carlos asked.

Arnold shrugged. “I like to look nice.”

“ _I_ think you’re just worried that the kids will think you don’t know what you’re talking about unless you dress up.” Wanda said, picking up an orange out of the fruit basket.

“But don’t worry Arnold,” she reassured him as she handed him an apple. “Once you start telling them about your collection, they’ll realize you know all there is to know about rocks and minerals.”

Arnold smiled. “Thanks Wanda.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“You’ll be fine, Arn,” Tim said.

“Yeah,” added Carlos. “Your knowledge of rocks really, _rocks_.”

“Carlos!” Arnold joined in with Tim and Wanda, but he laughed too. And he did feel a little less nervous.

Finishing his coffee and starting on his apple, Arnold went back to the room he shared with Ralphie to get his laptop.

Ralphie was just getting up when Arnold walked in. “Hi Arnold.”

“Hi Ralphie. Boy, you look tired.”

Ralphie yawned. “I was up late helping Keesha with her observations.”

“Oh yeah. Did you find anything interesting?”

“It’s all interesting,” Ralphie said with a shrug. “We didn’t find anything unexpected though.”

“No aliens?”

“None. And Keesha got annoyed when I asked.”

Arnold nodded. “She usually does. ‘I got into astronomy because I was interested in learning about space. Not to look for things that only exist in your head.’”

Ralphie laughed. “You sound just like her.”

“Practice,” Arnold said as he retrieved his laptop and headed for his lab.

Phoebe was watering the houseplants as Arnold walked by. “Good luck with your talk, Arnold,” she said, smiling at him.

“Thanks,” Arnold said, smiling back. “How’s your new African Mask Plant doing?”

Phoebe gestured at the plant in the window. “See for yourself, it’s growing quite quickly. I think it likes it here.”

“Well, you take good care of it,” Arnold said. “Of course it likes it here.”

He could feel her smile on his back as he continued his way across the house.

Dorothy Ann looked a little frantic, typing quickly on her laptop.

“You okay, Dorothy Ann?” Arnold asked.

“Fine. But I have to finish my paper. It’s due for peer review!” D.A. replied without looking up.

“Good luck,” Arnold said as Tim brought D.A. a cup of coffee.

“Thanks,” D.A. responded to both of them at once.

Tim and Arnold glanced at each other and left Dorothy Ann to her work.

Arnold finally reached the room he was heading for. Keesha was sitting next to the telescope going over her notes.

“Hi Keesha, you don’t look nearly as tired as Ralphie does,” Arnold said.

Keesha laughed. “That’s because I planned ahead to get enough sleep.”

“How did your observations go?”

“Great. Even if Ralphie wouldn’t stop asking me if I thought we were going to see any aliens. He was really helpful at taking notes though. I usually get Dorothy Ann to help me, but…”

Arnold nodded. “I saw how stressed she is over her paper.”

“Exactly. So I asked Ralphie instead. You better get set up,” Keesha reminded Arnold. “It’s almost nine o’clock.”

Arnold looked at his watch. “Oh wow, it is. Thanks Keesha.”

“No problem, Arnold.”

Arnold set up his laptop in the part of the room that he had designated as his own. His rock and mineral samples and all his tools were where he could easily get to them. He had already set out the samples he planned to show to Ms. Frizzle’s students.

Turning on his laptop’s camera and microphone he was greeted by the smiling face of Ms. Frizzle, with Liz perched on her shoulder.

“Good morning, Arnold!”

“Good morning Ms. Frizzle,” Arnold said, grinning back.

“Are you ready to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy?”

Arnold laughed. “Am I ever? Besides, even you can’t do a field trip over the internet.”

“Oh you’d be surprised, Arnold,” Ms. Frizzle told him, earrings glowing. “You’d be surprised.”

As if that were their cue, Ms. Frizzle’s current group of students began appearing on video. When they were all logged in, Ms. Frizzle addressed them.

“Class, this is Dr. Arnold Perlstein. He’s a geologist and one of my favorite former students.”

“You say that about all of us, Ms. Frizzle.”

“That’s because it’s true, Arnold!” Ms. Frizzle said with a grin.

Arnold grinned too as he addressed the class. “Hi everyone. I’m Arnold and I’m going to teach you all about rocks and minerals. They’re two of my favorite things, and I hope when I’m done they’ll be two of your favorite things too.”

And with the class listening intently and Ms. Frizzle watching proudly, Arnold went to work.

**Author's Note:**

> I really liked the idea of the eight of them chipping in to get a house after college to use as a home base. It’s not very common for them all to be home at the same time. Usually at least one or two are away on a research mission somewhere. But they like having someplace to come back to.
> 
> I picked Arnold for which one is talking to Ms. Frizzle’s class because he’s the only one whose career choice I’m sure about. But they all take a turn teaching her current class about what they do.
> 
> Keesha doing astronomy was inspired by aimmyarrowshigh on Tumblr’s Awesome Cartoon Girls All Grown Up post about her. Ralphie annoying her by asking about aliens came from that post as well.
> 
> It took a lot of willpower not to put an entire conservatory in their house. But that seems a little over the top. They do have a greenhouse though.
> 
> Phoebe’s new plant is an African Mask Plant partially because it’s unusual and partially because it requires special care.
> 
> There’s a very brief reference to my childhood ship in this fic. See if you can spot it.
> 
> Arnold has a PhD. in Geology, which is why Ms. Frizzle refers to him as “doctor”. I think all eight of them have PhDs in their chosen fields. They are rather overachievers after all.


End file.
